After July 2021, the 2.3.x release line no longer received quality updates or user guide updates. PHP 7.3 reached end of support in December 2021, and Adobe Commerce 2.3.x reached end of support in September 2022. We strongly recommend upgrading to Adobe Commerce 2.4.x to help maintain PCI compliance.
Websites, Stores, and Views
This site contains archived merchant documentation for a version of Adobe Commerce and Magento Open Source that has reached end-of-support.
The documentation available here is intended for historical reference only and is not maintained.
The Adobe Commerce Merchant Documentation for current releases is published on the Adobe Experience League.
Every Magento installation has a hierarchy of website(s), store(s), and store view(s). The term scope determines where in the hierarchy a database entity — such as a product, attribute, or category — content element, or configuration setting applies. Websites, stores, and store views have one-to-many parent/child relationships. A single installation can have multiple websites, and each website can have multiple stores and store views.
- Websites
- Magento installations begin with a single website which by default, is called Main Website. You can also set up multiple websites for a single installation, each with its own IP address and domain.
- Stores
- A single website can have multiple stores, each with its own main menu. The stores share the same product catalog, but can have a different selection of products and design. All stores under the same website share the same Admin and checkout.
- Store Views
- Each store that is available to customers is presented according to a specific view. Initially, a store has a single default view. Additional store views can be added to support different languages, or for other purposes. Customers can use the language chooser in the header to change the store view.